Nightmares (A Terzanelle)

 

 

When the nightmares shake their manes

Snort and stamp across the night

Wrenching free from terror’s reins,

 

When they, rearing up in flight,

Flaring nostrils wide and proud,

Snort and stamp across the night,

 

Then they cascade down the cloud

Reared on panic, fed with fear,

Flaring nostrils wide and proud,

 

And I watch as they appear,

Tumbling, reaching through my sleep;

Reared on panic, fed with fear.

 

Trapped before them in the deep

I stretch out my hand for you

Tumbling, reaching through my sleep.

 

Helpless, this I always do

When the nightmares shake their manes:

I stretch out my hand for you

Wrenching free from terror’s reins.